Trading Freedom, specifically
Civil Liberties, for Perceived Security or Safety?
Dr.
Fall Term 2007
USA PATRIOT Act stands for
“United and Strengthening
Providing Appropriate
Tools Required to Intercept
and Obstruct Terrorism
(
(P.L. 107-56;
Question: Is the name of this
Act “ideologically charged”? (NPR,
342 pages
(only 130 in Statutes) of modifications to the United States Code,
Titles 18 (Crimes and Criminal Procedures), Title 28 (Judiciary and Judicial
Procedure), and especially Title 50 (War and National Defense); divided into
ten titles. See Title 2, “Enhanced
Surveillance Procedures”
Section 215 is
entitled “Access to Records and Other Items under the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act” (see http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/useftp.cgi?IPaddress=162.140.64.21&filename=publ056.pdf&directory=/diskc/wais/data/107_cong_public_laws
)
1. Executive Branch,
Presidential authority via Executive Orders (e.g., EO 12333)
2. Department of
Justice (Attorney General, John Ashcroft, may also ask Secretary of Defense, Donald H. Rumsfeld, for assistance)
3. Federal Bureau of
Investigation (Robert S. Mueller III, Director
or delegate)
4. Assistant Special
Agent in Charge
5. Semi-annual
account of “tangible items” to Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of
the House of Representatives and Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate
Tangible items in
Section 215 include “Books, records, papers, documents, and other items….” Records can include business records, library
circulation records as well as public-access computers in public libraries (see
Section 505 as well).
"Section 215 [of
the USA PATRIOT Act] gave the FBI authority to obtain library and bookstore
records and a wide range of other documents during investigations of
international terrorism or secret intelligence activities." Bob Egelko at Sfgate.com The target does not have to be a suspected
terrorist. Re booksellers see
“Tattered Cover Inc. v. City of
Indeed, within the
year, such law enforcement “officials visited at least 545 (10.7%) libraries to
ask for these records. Of these, 178 libraries (3.5%) received visits from the FBI”
according to Leigh Estabrook of the LRC at the
See DOJ gloss at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/mie/ctu/section_215.pdf
)
"Unlike other
search warrants, the FBI need not show that evidence of wrongdoing is likely to
be found or that the target of its investigation is actually involved in
terrorism or spying. Targets can include
"Nearly everything
about the procedure is secret. The court that authorizes the searches meets in
secret; the search warrants carried by the agents cannot mention the underlying
investigation; and librarians and booksellers are prohibited, under threat of
prosecution, from revealing an FBI visit to anyone, including the patron whose
records were seized," according to Bob Egelko at Sfgate.com
General Accounting
(now Accountability) Office says that FOI Act impact of USA PATRIOT ACT: a)
requires agencies to consider national security specifically. Thirty one percent of federal agencies report
changes—less FOIA information is being released.
On
"National
Security Letters" (aka NSLs)
According
to the SelfStorage site, "A NSL functions like a subpoena but it is issued
by an FBI agent, subject to Department of Justice guidelines, without the
review of a judge or magistrate. The NSL also prohibits the recipient from
disclosing to any person that the FBI has sought or obtained access to
information or records. Thus, a business is served with a secret subpoena
issued solely on the authority of the FBI and is obligated to maintain the
secrecy of any action taken by the FBI." Apparently,
the FBI has used it dozens of times and at least once "to demand internal
records from a library association in Connecticut." (NYT 7 November
2005, A16) because Geoprge Christian, a local librarian who worked for Library
Connection Inc., had refused to comply with turning over patron library records
for three dozen libraries' email, circulation records, and websites visited. In September 2004, Judge Victor
Marrero of the Southern District of New York issued a landmark decision
striking down the NSL statute and the associated gag provision.
For more information, see ACLU's site "Safe and Free" at http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=15543&c=262
PATRIOT ACT II (2003)
In January 2003, "The Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003" (aka the PATRIOT ACT II) was introduced and then in June, reintroduced as "Vital Interdiction of Criminal Terrorist Organizations Act of 2003, or Victory Act."
Related Issues:
According to the INS
in February 2003, there were about seven million illegal immigrants in the
United States, but other estimates range from 8-9 million according to the US
Census Bureau to as high as twenty million illegal immigrants according to
David Cole at Georgetown University’s Law Center. Under the PATRIOT ACT, an estimated 5,000
Arab American and Muslims are being secretly detained (with only five charged
and one convicted).
Questions: Does the
Bill of Rights apply to American citizens only or foreign nationals as
well? “Persons” in the
REFERENCE
Herbert N. Foerstel, Refuge
of a Scoundrel: The PATRIOT Act in Libraries. Westport, CT: Libraries
Unlimited, 2004.
"As nightfall does not come all at once,
neither does oppression. In both
instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly
unchanged. And it is in such twilight
that we all must be most aware of change in the air—however slight—lest we
become unwitting victims of the darkness.”
--William O. Douglas, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
“Those who would give up essential liberties for a
measure of security,
deserve neither liberty nor security."
--
Last Revised: 8
February 2006--R;tw